Possible Out Drive Failure?

zeddy

zeddy

Member
Aug 7, 2018
42
Boat Info
1985 Searay 210 Seville Mid Cabin
Engines
Mercruiser 5.0LX/ Alpha One
Hello All,
I wanted to get your opinions. This last weekend, I took my dad out fishing for his birthday, As we were approaching our spot, the boat stops in motion, engine revs with high pitched whine. Put her in neutral whine goes away. She would not engage into forward or reverse at all, just whining noise when I tried to place into gear. I even took the shift cable out and still would not engage when i pulled and pushed.

My dad pulled the outdrive out and said there was what he described as hardened rubber pieces stuck between the driveshaft teeth that goes through the gimbal.

With the outdrive out, when he puts the shift shaft in the gear (forward/reverse), the prop locks up one way, free the other.

Does does sound like a outdrive failure or is it something else? We recently replaced the shift rod, cables last summer. I worked great.

It's a Mercruise 5.0lx with alpha 1 gen 2 outdrive. Thanks in advance.
 
Sounds like the coupler failed. 90% chance that’s the problem. However, there is usually a reason the coupler fails and that needs to be investigated during any attempt at restoring operation.
 
what causes the coupler to fail? I want to head towards the right direction. Thanks so much.
 
Mis alignment between the outdrive and engine. Could be as simple as adjusting the 2 front engine mounts or worst case soft stringers where the front engine mounts are attached to the boat structure.
 
Rubber is big indicator the coupler failed. As mentioned, could be just misaligned engine caused it to go. You mentioned fishing; do you troll? I’ve heard when run under 1000-1200 rpm for extended periods can cause premature coupler failure since the coupler vibrates more at those speeds. Not sure if there is any truth to that.

unfortunately the motor has to come out to do the job
 
When you say pull the engine out, completely out of the boat? Or just enough where I can access the coupler.

another question, if it was the outdrive itself, it wouldn’t be locking into gear correct? And why wouldn’t the outdrive engage?
I just want to know how these things work.
Thanks so much.
 
Yes engine completely out. You'll have to remove the bellhousing to get access to the coupler bolts.
 
Thanks! Now I wish it was my outdrive.
 
If you can move it forward far enough to access the bolts that's all is necessary
 
hey all, i've done quiet a bit of research and it seems like it's not a job for me. I called a few places for estimates which ranged from $1700-$2500. Does that seem reasonable?
 
With the outdrive already removed, sounds pretty fair with the coupler included. Losing prime boating/fishing season, should also be considered if you can't do the job yourself.
 
That’s including parts, gaskets, seals and motor alignment.

want to get this done, yellow tails popping off.
 
Wanderer 290 said:
Mis alignment between the outdrive and engine. Could be as simple as adjusting the 2 front engine mounts or worst case soft stringers where the front engine mounts are attached to the boat structure.
Click to expand...
zeddy said:
That’s including parts, gaskets, seals and motor alignment.

want to get this done, yellow tails popping off.
Click to expand...
 
You may be able to just lift the engine off it’s mounts and turn it 90 degrees in place to access the bell housing. Use some blocking underneath for support.

Depending on how much room there is you may not even have to take the exhaust manifolds off.

It’s not too bad a job in a single engine boat and can be done for a few hundred bucks in a couple of afternoons.

How much “while you’re at it” things you do is up to you but it’s a good time to fix leaks and look at the starter.
 
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